Robin's Cousin

chapter ten

Pietro's POV

"What's her prognosis?" I asked, still not moving from my sister's side despite the late hour of the night. It had been hours since my sister successfully removed the tattoo from the back of her neck using the mind stone, but in doing so she severely burned her wrists and over exerted her powers due to the dampeners that were on her wrists.

I glanced down at the bandages that adorned Wanda's forearms, gulping when I remembered what her arms looked like underneath. "She will need to rest for a while, a week at least, but she should make a full recovery. Luckily she did no lasting damage to the nerves in her wrists or any brain damage." I nodded in acknowledgement of Dinah's words, never taking my eyes off my twin. Hearing a sigh, I felt a hand on my shoulder. Dinah spoke to me without me looking back up at her. "Pietro, you should go rest. It will be a long time before she wakes up."

"No, I am not leaving her side." I hissed, shaking the woman's hand off my shoulder. "When she wakes up, I will be here."

Sensing there was no arguing with me, Dinah sighed. "Suit yourself. I will make up a bed for you next to hers." I heard the doors to the med bay open and close with Black Canary's exit, leaving me alone with Wanda.

I let the tears fall now that I was alone, taking Wanda's hand in my own, crawling into the bed next to her, careful not to disrupt any of the wires or tubes attached to her body. I sobbed into my younger sister's shoulder, letting all my emotions out that I had been bottling up since I drove my sword through her chest. "I am so sorry, sister. This is all my fault. If I was not so careless with Ultron, we would be with the Avengers and the Light would not have been able to reach you and you would not be in so much pain. I would never have been with Al Ghul, never stabbed you, you would not have been mind controlled, and never would have had to do this to yourself." I choked on the thickness of my tears. "Wanda - I failed you. Please, forgive me."

I allowed myself to cry for a few more moments before I wiped my tears on the back of my arm, sniffling one last time before forcing a smile onto my face. "Hey sis, remember the first time we escaped from Hydra? When we were, what, seven years old?" I chuckled at the memory, retelling the story out loud to keep myself from crying again. "We were in the states at the time, Florida I believe. Anyways, we were running for days when we came upon this huge castle in the distance. Not knowing what it was, we asked the nearest person and they said it was 'the most magical place on earth'. Now that really intrigued you, you begged me to take you, so I did. I ran for miles with you in my arms, longer than I had in a long time. We finally got to a place called Disney World, but they wouldn't allow two unaccompanied minors into the park, so what did you do? You wanted to go to Disney so bad you willed the gatekeepers to let us through. The first time you had ever done that, all because you wanted to see the castle." I smiled at my sister's unconscious face, letting out a little yawn. "Anyways, when this is all over, I am going to take you to Disney world again. Properly, this time."

I must have dozed off because when I opened my eyes again, a blanket was spread over Wanda and I and a tray of what looked like M'gann's cooking was placed next to the bed with a note. Curious, I picked up the paper and started to read the note.

Pietro,

We didn't want to wake you, this is the most peaceful we have ever seen the two of you look. Anyways, in case you wanted to join, we are doing some training to prepare for the fight against the Light. If not, enjoy some of M'gann's homemade muffins.

-Dick

I put the note aside, standing up from the bed to stretch my sore muscles. Picking up a muffin and taking a bite, I decided I would join the others for some training, just to take my mind of everything if nothing else.

I entered the training room silently, watching Tigress spar with Nightwing. They were pretty evenly matched, up until Nightwing noticed my presence and was stunned for a moment, allowing Tigress to land a solid kick to his chest, knocking him to the ground and declaring her the winner. My teammates and friends paused their training to come over to me, obvious shock on their faces.

"Pietro, we are glad you could make it. How is Wanda doing?" M'gann regained her composure first, a warm smile on her face.

"Still unconscious, but will hopefully wake up by the end of the week. Thank you for the muffins by the way, they were delicious." I returned her smile, nodding towards the sparring ring. "Who wants to go a few rounds?"

Wally smirked, stepping into the ring ahead of me. "You're up, copy cat. Powers or no powers?"

"No powers, show me what you're really made of." I followed Wally into the ring, doing a few light stretches. "I should warn you, I was trained by Ra's Al Ghul himself."

"So don't hold back." Wally grunted, getting into a fighting stance. "Kaldur, you call the match."

"Alright. Ready, set, fight!"

Wally went on the offensive immediately, sending a punch towards my torso which I easily dodged. I grabbed his arm and used his own momentum to send him flying into the boundaries of the sparring area. I heard him grunt again before he whirled around, getting into a defensive stance. He must have sensed my motions because he caught my leg that was about to kick his head and he threw me towards the ground. Luckily, thanks to my training as a Shadow, I hand sprung back to my feet before Wally was declared the victor.

We circled each other a few more times before either of us made another move, just studying our opponent. I lunged at him, pretending to aim a punch at his head. When Wally predictably grabbed my arm, I used his support to knee him in the stomach before planting my feet on the ground and hurling him over my shoulder and onto the ground on his back. I heard the older teen gasp for air as the breath was knocked out of his lungs and I was declared the winner.

I helped Wally off the ground with a smirk. "I didn't hold back and you still held your own. Nice job."

"Thanks Pietro, you aren't half bad yourself." He pat my shoulder before turning to the rest of our team. "Anyone else want to spar our should we call it a day and go check on Wanda?"

Everyone shook their heads so I led the way back down the corridors towards my sister's medical room, knocking just incase they were running any tests. When I didn't hear an answer, I panicked, forgetting about Wanda's unconscious state and burst into the room. "Wanda?! Are you alright?!" When I laid eyes on her still form in the bed, the impossible amount of machines hooked up to her body, my heart sank as reality came crashing back down around me. "Oh, right."

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Jason's sympathetic gaze. The rest of the team filed in behind me as I took my seat on the edge of Wanda's bed. Conner was surprisingly the first one to break the silence. "I hope she wakes up soon. Even though she has been on the team for a short time, Wanda really brought a certain energy."

"Did we ever tell you about one of the first times we hung out as a team with Wanda?" Artemis directed her question at me, making me shake my head. "Oh man, that was a crazy night."

"Are you talking about the time she took us clubbing? When Roy and I got drunk off our asses?" Dick groaned. "I can feel that hangover all over again just thinking about it."

I smiled, looking down at Wanda. "How did she pull that off?"

"And can she do it again?" Jason added, a mischievous twinkle in his blue eyes.

"She 'persuaded' the bouncer and bartenders." M'gann giggled, probably remembering the club. "I miss her."

That sentence set me off. "Why are we talking about her as if she is dead? She isn't dying."

"Pietro, nobody sa-"

I barreled over my cousin's words. "Wanda isn't dying. She will get better. She'll wake up." I squeezed Wanda's hand, looking down at my twin sister's peaceful face. "She'll wake up."

Won't she?